There are at least four main categories of VTOL or V/STOL vehicles: where the vehicle has a single powerplant adapted for producing vertical as well as horizontal thrust; where the vehicle has separate powerplants for producing vertical and horizontal thrust; where the vehicle has a powerplant for vertical and horizontal thrust, plus a supplemental powerplant for vertical thrust; other configurations.
By way of general background, the following publications disclose various aircraft configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,300 discloses an aircraft comprising an airframe, a power plant mounted on the airframe, and at least two propellers rotatably mounted on the airframe and powered by the power plant for moving the aircraft in a generally forward direction during operation of the propellers. Also, the aircraft includes at least two counter-rotatable fan sets mounted on the airframe and powered by the power plant for providing upward lift to the aircraft during operation of the fan sets.
US 2006/0226281 discloses a vertical take-off and landing vehicle comprised of a fuselage having a front, a rear, and two lateral sides and a set of four thrusters set to the front, the left, the right, and the rear of said fuselage. The thrusters are comprised of a set of two counter rotating propellers both of which creates lift. The two counter rotating propellers cancel out the torque effect normally created by using only one propeller. The ducted fan units are movable between a first position in which they provide vertical lift and a second position in which they provide horizontal thrust using a set of servos and gears.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,472,863 discloses a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft design comprising one internal combustion engine able to spit shaft power to four fan units. The fan units further employ counter rotating fan blades for stability. Separate horizontal and vertical tilting mechanisms delivered to the fan units are additionally disclosed. A variation in design is further included wherein electric motors provide the necessary shaft power.
US 2004/094662 discloses an Unusual Flying Object said to have VTOL capabilities including forward flight with a Linear Induction Magnetic Bearings power drive.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,461,811 discloses a STOL or VTOL winged aircraft comprising a fuselage and a fixed wing attached to the fuselage and extending outward from the two lateral sides thereof, forming one wing component extending outward from one side of the fuselage and a second wing component extending outward from the opposite side of the fuselage. At least one “thruster” is disposed in each wing component to provide vertical lift to the aircraft when the aircraft is stationary or moving forward only slowly. The thruster includes a shaft mounted for rotation in the respective wing component and extending substantially parallel to the wing axis and a plurality of fan blades attached to the shaft for movement of air.
US 2003/062442 discloses a personal aircraft said to be capable of vertical take-off and landing and comprises a passenger compartment having a front, a rear and two sides, and a plurality of independently powered thrusters attached to the outer periphery of the compartment. At least three thrusters are disposed on each side of the compartment. The thrusters, which are preferably ducted fan units, are capable of providing a vertically upward force to the compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,979 discloses a personal aircraft said to be capable of vertical take-off and landing which comprises: (a) a fuselage having a front end, a rear end and two lateral sides, the fuselage having a central longitudinal axis extending from the front end to the rear end, between the two lateral sides; (b) at least one, and preferably two or more, ducted fans, each arranged in the fuselage between the front end and the rear end and between the two lateral sides, for providing vertical lift; and (c) at least one substantially horizontal wing attached to each side of the fuselage and extending outward with respect to the central longitudinal axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,166 discloses a vehicle, particularly a VTOL air vehicle, including a duct carried by the vehicle frame with the longitudinal axis of the duct perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle frame; a propeller rotatably mounted within the duct about the longitudinal axis of the duct to force an ambient fluid, e.g. air, therethrough from its inlet at the upper end of the duct through its exit at the lower end of the duct, and thereby to produce an upward lift force applied to the vehicle; and a plurality of parallel, spaced vanes pivotally mounted to and across the inlet end of the duct about pivotal axes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the duct and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle frame. The vanes are selectively pivotal to produce a desired horizontal force component to the lift force applied to the vehicle. Various vane arrangements are disclosed for producing side, roll, pitch and yaw movements of the vehicle.
US 2003/080242 discloses an aircraft that is mounted with turbofan engines with separate core engines having fan engines used commonly for cruising and lifting up, through enabling to direct the thrust from fan engines to all directions by supporting the fan engines composing the turbofan engines with separate core engines in biaxial support so that the fan engines are rotatable in the direction of pitching and rolling, the fan engines are mounted on both sides of each of front and rear wings.
US 2007/0057113 discloses a system and method are provided for a STOL/VTOL aircraft that stores required take-off power in the form of primarily an electric fan engine, and secondarily in the form of an internal combustion engine.
US 2008/0054121 discloses a VTOL vehicle comprising a fuselage having forward and aft propulsion units, each propulsion unit comprising a propeller located within an open-ended duct wall wherein a forward facing portion of the duct wall of at least the forward propulsion unit is comprised of at least one curved forward barrier mounted for horizontal sliding movement to open the forward facing portion to thereby permit air to flow into the forward facing portion when the VTOL vehicle is in forward flight.
US 2002/113165 discloses a vertical takeoff aircraft that uses ducted fans for lift and propulsion. The fans are attached to an airframe and are disposed on opposite lateral sides of the aircraft. The thrust from the each of the fans may be deflected in different directions by using vanes with flaps disposed within the ducts of the fans, as well as by tilting the entire fan assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,232 discloses a single passenger aircraft configured to vertically take-off and land. An airframe is configured to support the passenger in an upright position during take-off and landing and during flight. The aircraft includes a pair of propulsion devices that are mounted on an airframe above the level of the pilot. A set of hand operated control devices are mechanically linked to the propulsion devices for varying the orientation of the propulsion devices during flight.